Local photographer, Curtis Matwishyn, stands holding two of his photos, which are now up in his first showing at Amy’s on Second. The show will be up until the end of April and consists of mainly nature and wildlife photos as well as a couple of urban images. Matwishyn has been taking photographs for a handful of years and intends to pursue it more fully in the coming years.

The show will be up until the end of April and consists mainly of nature and wildlife photos as well as a couple of urban images.

“It’s a cross-section of my work from the last few years,” Matwishyn said.

While he has taken some urban photographs, most of his images are of the wild places.

“Whatever environment I’m in I like to take photos but I find myself in the natural environment more than the urban,” he said.

The natural world draws him to click the shutter.

“Just getting out into nature and being really patient and trying to get closer to animals in their natural habitat without disturbing them … letting them be comfortable around me, I find that really special,” Matwishyn said.

While out winter camping last winter near Waskesiu, he got closer to nature than he has before.

“I saw a fox in the distance so I went around him to not disturb him and I put my long lens on my camera and I sat down … He noticed me.”

The fox began to walk towards him as Matwishyn continued shooting.

“He actually ended up coming about 10 feet away from me and he just kind of sat down and looked at me for a while. That was just really kind of neat. Just the curiosity of animals when you’re not threatening to them, they seem to accept you and allow to be in their environment. That just seemed like a really kind of special encounter and I really enjoyed that,” he said.

While he has only been shooting for a handful of years, he feels a strong draw to delve deeper into the world of photography.

“Just getting out into nature and being really patient and trying to get closer to animals in their natural habitat without disturbing them..."

“I really wanna put more effort and time into my photography,” he said.

He got his first camera in 2008 just before he graduated from high school and not long after took a photography course at the University of Saskatchewan.

Matwishyn uses some post-processing but aims to keep it moderate, but will remove manmade signs if he feels they detract from the subject.

“I still try and make it as natural as possible. The camera actually has some shortfalls, where it can’t see the world the same way as our eyes do, such as a smaller dynamic range.”

Dynamic range in photography is the balance between being able to see darks and lights, shadows and highlights, all at once.

“I try to make the most accessible, most pleasing image. I hope that the post-processing doesn’t detract from it, especially from other photographers,” he said.

My first goal is just to keep having fun with it … it’s one of the main things I like to do … but I would like to maybe start to bring my works to more people. I’d like to possibly start getting it published in a magazine … and if I could eventually get into a job that would involve photography, I would love that,” he said.

He has recently sold his first photo rights to Tourism Saskatoon and is also launching his website.

Local photographer, Curtis Matwishyn, stands holding two of his photos, which are now up in his first showing at Amy’s on Second. The show will be up until the end of April and consists of mainly nature and wildlife photos as well as a couple of urban images. Matwishyn has been taking photographs for a handful of years and intends to pursue it more fully in the coming years.